Blasting cap package



Jan. 15, 1946. R. G. MERCER ET AL d Oct. 9, 1942 Jam 15, 1946- R. G.MERCER ET AL. 2,393,221

BLASTING CAP PACKAGE Filed Oct.' 9, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS,P05/A77 G/z/fM/v /wwcf/F ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 15, 1946 BLASTING CAPPACKAGE Robert Gilman Mercer and David McWatty Taylor, New Castle, Pa.,

assignors to American Cyanamid d: Chemical Corporation, New York, N. Y.,a corporation of Delaware Application october 9, 1942, serial No.461,372

' 4 claims. (c1. 242-53) The present invention relates to a bundle ol'wires and to a meth'od of producing the same.

The .principal object of the present invention is to so wind, coil, orbundle the lead wires used to convey electric potential from an ignitiondevice to a blasting charge, so that when the wire is run out betweenthese points it will extend* freely without kinking. The inventionfurther contemplates abundle of wires so produced, together with aprotector and/or securing device, as a complete article of manufacture.

While the invention is particularly concerned Fig. is a view similar toFig. 4 showing a com pleted and secured bundle;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view partly broken away showing the completedbundle in a sleeve; and

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the method of extending abundle of wires oi' the present invention without kinks.

Referring now withparticularity to the draw- Y.. ings and withparticular reference to Fig. 1, there with' lead wires for electricblasting caps, yet the I invention is not to be restricted thereto, butcontemplates the bundling of any material such as Wire or the like wherein uncoiling or stretching out the same there is a tendency to producekinks which are undesirable.

To this end the invention contemplates coiling or Vwinding a length ofwire or wires so as to form -a series of loops or convolutions lying inproximity to each other, while in the preferred form the loops will beelongated and of greater length than width with substantially parallelsides, yet the invention is not limited thereto. The thus formed bundleis then twisted about its longitudinal axis by grasping the ends of thebundle and turning them in opposite directions until the end portion ofeach convolution lies in a plane substantially at right angles to theplane of its opposite end portion.

'I'he invention further contemplates securing a bundle of lead wiresproduced as above by placing a. bender tie around the center position soas to include and hold in place a blasting cap or the like attached tothe lead wires, and also may include a tube or sleeve into which thethus secured bundle of wires may be stuil'ed to hold the entire assemblyready for use.

'Ih'e invention further consists in a novel arrangement, accommodationand construction of parts more fully hereinafter described and shown invthe accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a bundle of wires beingstretched out and showing its tendency to kink;

` Fig. 2 is a perspective detail showing the method of initially windinga bundle of wires according to thev present invention;

Fig. 3 is a similar view with the winding operation completed;

Fig. 4 is a front view o! the bundle after the coil of Fig. 3 h'as beentwisted about the longitudinal axis of the bundle;

is shown at I an ordinary coil of wire or the like which it is desiredto extend. Unless proper precautions are taken to hold the coil in a xedposition the tendency is for the wire to come of! of the coll as shownin that iigure. It will be apparent that the tendency 0f the wire is tobe taken from the coil in substantially the plane of the coil and as aresult, while the top of each' individual loop at 2 will pull outwithout kinking, yet the lower portion 3 of the same loop will fold onitself, getting closer and closertogether as the end is pulled outwardlyuntil a kink 4 results.

One of the problems in the blasting industry is to so bundle a length oflead wires for ignition caps that they may be quickly extended for usebetween the shot hole and th'e ignition device without kinking.Elaborate machinery is sometimes used for winding the lead wires in afigure 3" form which is intended to overcome this dimculty.` It has beenfound in actual practice, however, that not only must this winding bedone very carefully, which' necessarily slows up the machine designed toaccomplish the purpose, but in handling it is diillcult if notimpossible to maintain the various figure 8 convolutions in their properrelationship so that they do not tangle when the wires are pulled out.

The above diiliculties may be readily overcome by winding a length ofwire I upon two fixed posts 5 in a clockwise direction so as to producethe elongated bundle 6 as shown in Fig. 3. If rods or other instruments'I and 8 are then placed through the ends 9 and I0 of the coil of Fig. 3and twisted in opposite directions as in Fig. 4, the bundle Il of Fig. 5results.

Where desired a band I 2 of any desired material can be placed about themiddle portion of the bundle to secure the same against accidentaldisplacement. This is particularly desirable where a blasting cap I3 isalready attached to an end of the wires in which case the securing bandI2 may be used to hold th'e cap in proper place in the bundle.

In order to protect the bundle and cap it is desirable to place theentire unit within a tube or the like I4 of such a size that the wiresbind bundle I l.

sufliciently against the inner wall thereof so as to preventdisplacement.

When using the bundle prepared according to the present invention it isonly necessary to remove the bundle from the tube or sleeve Il, take o5the band I2, grasp the loose end of the wire l5 (Fig. '1) and lpull theend away from the As shown in Fig. 7, the loop 9 will naturally open outwithout any diillculty. Due to the fact that the opposite end of theloop as shown at I0 is in a plane substantially at right angles to theplane of the direction o! pull, the wire at this part will open outwithout kinking due to the fact that it does not cross over upon itself.

In practicing the present invention, it is immaterial whether theinitial winding is made clockwise or counter-clockwise, provided thefinal twist is made in the right direction.

Such a bundle may be manufactured much VYmore cheaply than the ordinarygure B variety because the winding machines can travel much fasterwithout the necessity for a cross-over.

While the invention has been ushown and described with reference -to aspeciilc modiiication it obviously is not to be restricted thereto, butis to be construed broadly and limited only by the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A1 method of producing a bundle ci' wire which includes the steps offorming a length of wire into a plurality of substantially parallelconvolutions in proximity to each other, and thereafter twisting theconvolutions as a whole so that one portion of each convolution liessubstantially in a plane at right angles to the plane o! the remainingportion thereof.

2. A method of'producing a bundle of wires which includes the steps ofwinding a length of wire around two spaced' apart posts so as to form aplurality of elongated convolutions each Yof which has two substantiallyparallel sides, and thereafter twisting the convolutions as a whole sothat one portionof each convolution lies sub- Moreover, itis not nearlyas essential that the bundle of the present invention maintain theindividual convolutions in their exact location. Due to the fact thatthe two ends of each convolution lie in planes substantially at rightangles with each other, the wire may be extended rapidly and has a,tendency to untangle itself, all without the formation of kinks. I

It has been found that in the preparation of bundles of blasting capleads even though a double wire is used no difliculty has beenexperienced in rapidly extending the wires without fouling or kinking.

fili` stantiallyin a plane at right angles to the plane of the remainingpor-tion thereof.

3. Thevmethod of claim 2 in which a plurality of lengths of wire arewound simultaneously and then twisted simultaneously.

4. A bundle of wires comprising a plurality Aof convolutions inproximity to each other, each convolution being in the form of anelongated loop, one end portion of each convolution lying in a planesubstantially at right angles to the l plane of the other end portion.

ROBERT GmMAN MERCER. DAVID McWA'I'rY TAYLOR.

